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Aflatoxins: Food Safety, Human Health and Their Management

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicology and Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2023) | Viewed by 4974

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Noreddine Benkerroum

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Guest Editor

Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 93 Mount Edward Rd Charlottetown, Charlottetown, PE C1A 5T1, Canada
Interests: fermented foods; lactic acid bacteria; microbial toxins; food safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of fungal species of the Aspergillus genus, especially of Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Among the presently known 400 types of mycotoxins, aflatoxins are the most toxic and prevalent in food commodities, especially in dry and humid regions (tropical and subtropical African and Asian countries). Due to the complexity of the global agri-food supply chain, aflatoxins have become a worldwide food safety issue of prime concern. More than 20 different types of aflatoxins have been reported to date, but the most toxic among them are aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), and aflatoxin G2 (AFG2), also called “the major aflatoxins”, whose sum is designated as Total Aflatoxins (TAFs). Food commodities that are reported to be contaminated with the highest levels of aflatoxins include cereals, spices, and dry fruits. The most recent classification of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified aflatoxins (AFB1 and natural mixture of aflatoxins) in Group 1 of human carcinogens. Besides carcinogenicity, aflatoxins have various other serious adverse acute or chronic health effects, such as teratogenicity, mutagenicity, growth stunting, and immunosuppression. Based on the health implications of aflatoxins, many countries around the world have established maximum permissible limits for aflatoxins, which vary greatly based on the type of food commodity and the economic status of a country and its level of technological advancement.

Since the discovery of aflatoxins in the early 1960s, great research efforts have been deployed to curb their occurrence in foods and feeds and ensure a safe food supply. Different approaches have been suggested to remove aflatoxins from food and feed commodities or to prevent their formation and accumulation during production, transportation, and/or storage. However, each of these approaches has its own drawbacks that limit its efficacy or restrict its use under specific conditions not always practical or cost-effective. Therefore, there is an obvious need to develop new techniques or approaches that would efficiently detoxify aflatoxins in foods and feeds or reduce their contamination to safe levels.

This Special Issue is devoted to research articles, reviews, or mini-reviews on the occurrence of aflatoxins in food commodities, their health risk assessment involving different age groups and different gender, seasonal variation, contamination of agri-foods before and after harvest, contamination of processed foods during the different processing steps and storage, genetic characterization and regulation of aflatoxin production, and the development of methods to detoxify or prevent aflatoxin production and accumulation in foods.

Prof. Dr. Noreddine Benkerroum
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

aflatoxins
genetic characterization
contamination
accumulation
detection and quantification methods
prevention
biological control
detoxification
degradation
risk assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Diversity of Toxigenic Fungi in Livestock and Poultry Feedstuffs

by Eman Khalifa, Marwa T. Mohesien, Monga I. Mossa, Magdalena Piekutowska, Amnah Mohammed Alsuhaibani, Basel A. Abdel-Wahab, Sotohy Ahmed Sotohy, Soumya Ghosh, Yosra A. Helmy, Mohamed Hussein and Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(12), 7250; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127250 - 13 Jun 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1880

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to discover how abundant toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins are in animal feedstuff samples. A total of ninety samples representing various types of animal feedstuff samples were collected from ninety sites in Egypt. Isolation, identification, and determination of mycotoxins (aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, G2, and ochratoxin A) were performed. The results revealed that 79 (87.77%) of the samples were contaminated with fungi, and 1.1 × 10⁵ CFU/g were recovered, including 41 fungal species belonging to 18 genera, such as Zygomycota, which was represented by three species (7.31% of the total species number), teleomorphic Ascomycota (10 species, 24.39%), and anamorphic Ascomycota (28 species, 69.29%). When taxonomically investigated, these species were categorized into 2 phyla, 4 classes, 6 orders, and 12 families (one of them with an uncertain position). Moreover, the genus Aspergillus exhibited 16 species (39.02%). Notably, site no. 6 showed the highest Margalef species richness index at 10.87 followed by site no. 4, while the Shannon diversity index (H) of the recovered taxa was 2.20. Based on the frequency of occurrence, Aspergillus flavus recorded the highest percentage (65.56%) followed by A. niger (50%) and Penicillium chrysogenum (40%). Genus Aspergillus was recorded in 75 samples (88.33%), while Penicillium appeared only in 43 samples, accounting for 47.77% out of 90 samples. The High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was recorded in two animal feedstuff samples at a ratio of 0.851 and 1.363 µg/kg, While AFB2 was discovered in only one animal feedstuff sample at a ratio of 0.479 g/kg. The aflatoxins levels in the positive samples (AFB1 and AFB2) Beef cattle sample components were below the permissible limit for animal feedstuff which is (20 g/kg). Although aflatoxins were found in certain samples, the amounts were much below the maximum residue limits (MRLs) defined by the international authorities or Egyptian guidelines. toxigenic fungi found in contaminated animal feed samples pose a major threat to animal and poultry health, productivity, and even human health. Therefore, periodic monitoring is an excellent way to keep track of their existence and mitigate their hazards. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aflatoxins: Food Safety, Human Health and Their Management)

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Review

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34 pages, 1474 KiB

Open AccessReview

Human Breast Milk Contamination with Aflatoxins, Impact on Children’s Health, and Possible Control Means: A Review

by Noreddine Benkerroum and Amir Ismail

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(24), 16792; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192416792 - 14 Dec 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2362

Abstract

Aflatoxins are natural toxicants produced mainly by species of the Aspergillus genus, which contaminate virtually all feeds and foods. Apart from their deleterious health effects on humans and animals, they can be secreted unmodified or carried over into the milk of lactating females, thereby posing health risks to suckling babies. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the major and most toxic aflatoxin type after aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). It contaminates human breast milk upon direct ingestion from dairy products or by carry-over from the parent molecule (AFB1), which is hydroxylated in the liver and possibly in the mammary glands by cytochrome oxidase enzymes and then excreted into breast milk as AFM1 during lactation via the mammary alveolar epithelial cells. This puts suckling infants and children fed on this milk at a high risk, especially that their detoxifying activities are still weak at this age essentially due to immature liver as the main organ responsible for the detoxification of xenobiotics. The occurrence of AFM1 at toxic levels in human breast milk and associated health conditions in nursing children is well documented, with developing countries being the most affected. Different studies have demonstrated that contamination of human breast milk with AFM1 represents a real public health issue, which should be promptly and properly addressed to reduce its incidence. To this end, different actions have been suggested, including a wider and proper implementation of regulatory measures, not only for breast milk but also for foods and feeds as the upstream sources for breast milk contamination with AFM1. The promotion of awareness of lactating mothers through the organization of training sessions and mass media disclosures before and after parturition is of a paramount importance for the success of any action. This is especially relevant that there are no possible control measures to ensure compliance of lactating mothers to specific regulatory measures, which can yet be appropriate for the expansion of breast milk banks in industrialized countries and emergence of breast milk sellers. This review attempted to revisit the public health issues raised by mother milk contamination with AFM1, which remains undermined despite the numerous relevant publications highlighting the needs to tackle its incidence as a protective measure for the children physical and mental health. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aflatoxins: Food Safety, Human Health and Their Management)

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